


Lovely London Sky

by writerllofllworlds



Series: Nothing's Gone Forever, Only Out of Place [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Irondad, Memory, Not Canon Compliant, Pain, Parker Stark, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Whump, baby Stark - Freeform, may has a dog, may parker is awesome, remembering, spiderson, steve and tony are good y'all, this isn't that sad?, tony loves Peter so much guys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-15 23:28:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19306045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writerllofllworlds/pseuds/writerllofllworlds
Summary: “Spiderman was a kid.” Tony began. “He was my kid. Not biologically or anything, but I took him under my wing, and if you ever talked to him for more than five minutes, you know that he can worm under any walls you’ve built up. He catapulted over mine, the little shit, and suddenly he was one of the most important things in my life. I was shocked by how good he could be.”





	Lovely London Sky

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all, this is the last one before I start writing another multi-chaptered one about bringing our boi back.  
> Yeah, he's coming back. I have it all planned out. The only thing I'm still struggling to decide is whether or not to bring Natasha back. I can't promise anything.  
> Anyway, I don't own Marvel! just love irondad and spiderson.  
> Enjoy!

            Spiderman was dead.

            Tony Stark forgot this sometimes. Never that Peter Parker had died, no, but his hero counterpart, yes. His interactions with Peter were mostly just with Pete, the kid, and yeah, they talked about Spidey and muggings and saving the world, but the majority of their interactions were just with his kid, not the super part.

            So when May called him about the little Expo thing that the city was setting up, he had to remind himself that while Queens hadn’t lost their _son_ , they had lost their hero.

            “It’s next week, on the anniversary.” Tony was so damn elated that he could hear her smile through the phone. Once upon a time, neither could even think to smile when talking about their boy. “Open air pavilion type place, lots of people. And you don’t have to do anything; you don’t even have to come, Tony-,”

            “Nope.” The billionaire was already marking his calendar. “I’m free. I’ll be there.”

            She chuckled. “It’s like a remembrance. Word’s gotten around that Spiderman was the one to save the world. Not that the rest of the Avengers didn’t do anything, I didn’t mean-,”

            “May.” Tony soothed.

            “Right.” She got the babbling from Peter, she said. She wasn’t a babbler until the Snap. “Anyone can walk up to the mic or shout from the crowd and talk about how Spiderman helped them or saved them or taught them something. Only one or two news stations are being let inside to cover it – I think the city wants it to be a reverent and sincere ceremony, not a broadcast to get sympathy or whatever. I’ll be there. Ned and MJ too; they wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

            Tony couldn’t help but smile at the thought of all the people indebted to Peter. It was sad that only in death did the world look at Spiderman and see all the good he’d done. “Sounds delightful. Save me a seat, yeah?”

            His eyes fell on the kitchen counter and the picture that sat there (one Pepper had probably placed) and felt warmth all the way down to his toes. Happy, Pepper, Rhodey, he, and Peter all smiled at the camera. It was one they had taken on “The Game Night”, the Saturday evening years ago where everyone found out that Pepper was _terrifyingly_ good at Mario Cart and whooped everyone but Peter’s ass.

            “Actually, save me a whole row, won’t you? I know a few cool people who might want to say a thing or two about our webslinger.”

            May, who knew full well that half of the Avengers were going to be showing up to this thing, laughed softly. Peter used to laugh like that. Tony supposed that’s where he learned it. It was one of the many variations of the Peter Parker laugh; it meant soft grins, long hours in the lab, and Peter sneaking as many hugs as possible. Tony loved that laugh.

            He was so blessed to have so many pieces of Peter left. He was right there in May’s laugh. He was Happy’s exasperated eyeroll. He was in Hammy, who followed Tony around like a puppy (a puppy who had lasers that could _cut through bulletproof glass_ ) and giggled robotically that sounded suspiciously like his kid’s giggle.

            “Will do, Tony,” May replied kindly. A bark sounded in the background and Tony snorted.

            “Bach still growing?”

            “Oh, yes.” She groaned. “Small to medium size dog my _ass_.”

            “He and Pete would have gotten along just fine, then,” He added playfully. “I still can’t believe you named him Chewbacca.”

            “He’s a golden retriever collie mix, Stark,” She snapped without any of the real bite. “He’s the perfect color and, well, sometimes it feels like Peter’s still around, because only he would have named a dog after a Star Wars character.”

            Tony hummed. He and May had both grown so much in the two years since Peter had died. They had lost so much when he died, and pieces of their hearts would never be fully healed. But if Peter Parker had taught them anything, it was that that was _okay_. Because Peter Parker walked through life as an orphan, who would always have a little bit of his heart chipped and empty without his mom and dad. Who would have a piece missing in the shape of his uncle Ben with the remaining edges stained red. Who took every single death personally and mourned the kids he couldn’t catch, the women that he didn’t get to before they lost their ability to scream, and even the villains that he couldn’t redeem quick enough. And Peter still went on, because a broken heart could still love just as much as an untainted one, if not more so! Because a broken heart never took true love for granted. It held tighter, laughed louder, and danced even when it was raining because every moment was precious.

Peter still sacrificed his life every day. Peter still saved cats from trees and bought a jacket for a homeless kid. Peter still held up that broken building by himself and crawled out, bit his lip, and _walked out_.

            Because if Peter, sixteen-year-old that he was, could do it, so could they.

            “I miss him,” May admitted.

            “Me too.”

            “I’ll see you for brunch, Tony.”

            “Love you, May.”

            “You too, Tony.”

            He smiled to himself, remembering a time when May Parker would have died before saying anything like that to the Stark. Yeah, they’d grown.

            F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s voice came to life. “Boss? It appears Parker has woken up from his nap.”

            Tony checked his watch. “Man, he woke up a whole seven minutes early! Making progress, little man.”

            He made his way through the Tower towards his one-year-old’s room. Two weeks before, Parker had delighted his dad so much by making the first word he said “Dadda”, and he hoped that he would get the same gift that afternoon as he opened the door.

            Immediately, Tony was overcome with the best feeling in the world. He felt it when Parker giggled, when Morgan sang along to his AC/DC songs.

            When he had hugged Peter on that battlefield.

            He felt it when his kids were reminding him how fucking awesome they were and just how lucky Tony was to have them.

            “Dadda!”

            Parker had his mama’s blue eyes and ginger hair, but he got the curls from his daddy; Tony had crazy locks when he was younger that could not be tamed by gel or spray. He had freckles on his cheeks and nose that Morgan had a habit of trying to count. He was a much calmer baby then his sister had been, to the point where Tony almost called the Doctor about it in worry. Pepper had laughed and said that he was just happy to be there, and he didn’t really need anything else.

            Peter would have _adored_ him.

            “Hey, mister.” Tony cooed, and Parker started squealing happily as his father picked him up. _Take that, Howard._ “Yeah, bubba. You’re going to need a diaper change, aren’t you?”

            After situating his son’s bathroom problem, Parker seemed content to just chill on Tony’s hip while he went around his business, and Tony was never going to turn away one of his kids who just wanted to be with him.

            “Dadda?”

            Tony turned his head to kiss his son’s ginger locks. “Yeah, buddy?”

            He replied with a lot of baby babble, which of course his father understood perfectly. “Daddy’s gotta call some of his friends, okay? You just sit there and look pretty, Big Guy.”

            Oh, the nicknames this child had.

            “You cool with that?”

            Parker giggled and hit his father’s shoulder with his free hand, the other packing his stuffed animal into his mouth with glee.

            “Cool, bud.”

            Tony ended up asking them all the same thing: were they free April twenty-sixth at six o’ clock?

            Most of them were, and he grinned. They were going to have Peter’s back this one last time. They owed him so much more, but if they could do this, they would.

            May was waiting for him outside the venue when Happy pulled up. Tony got out, promising to hold the bodyguard a seat, and hooked his arm through hers to walk in together.

            “Lots of people here.” Tony clicked his tongue. “Still got those seats for me?”

            “Tony,” She raised a brow.

            “Right.” He smirked. “Never question the great May. She’ll never reveal how on earth she looks so young and has a sixteen-year-old nephew.”

            She touched her head to his shoulder. It was a little secret language the two had. Tony would squeeze her wrist three times, she would twirl her ring counterclockwise, he tapped her left elbow in a circular motion, she hummed the Imperial March theme. The list went on. Head-on-shoulder-two-second touch meant _thank you for loving him_.

            He replied by kissing her sweet-smelling hair and squeezing her arm.

            It wasn’t hard to reserve seats for the Avengers. They were tucked away in a corner and were all dressed in civilian clothing as to not draw attention to themselves. This was Spiderman’s event, not theirs. As Tony looked around as his crew, he was so pleased with the turnout. Steve was sitting with Sam and Bucky in one of the first rows. The Guardians had sent Quill to represent, and Thor had joined him. Clint had brought his son Cooper, who was a huge Spiderman fan. Doctor Strange met Tony’s eyes from beside Wong, Hope, and Scott, and he inclined his head, lips tilting upwards in a gentle smile. T’challa and Shuri, both dressed in respectful black, nodded as he passed; Shuri was wearing Spiderman earrings. Happy went to join Rhodey, who was near Clint and Cooper. Even Wade Wilson flipped him off from the back, decked in Spiderman paraphernalia and a promise to behave.

            All of these heroes had taken time to join in a celebration of everything that Peter had done.

            _Man, Pete, if only you knew_ …

            May led them to the row with Steve, Sam, and Bucky. He settled down beside the super-soldier. “Ned and MJ taking the ones next to you?”

            She nodded, “Ned took his final exam today, they’re on their way. MJ got him from the airport. They should be here in less than five minutes.”

            Tony nodded proudly. “Thanks for telling me.”

            “About?”

            “This.”

            She smiled fondly. “Oh. Well, of course. He’d want his dad to be here.”

            Tony froze.

            May never referred to him as Peter’s dad. She had known Peter’s dad. They were close.

            His shock must have shown on his face because she laughed. “Oh, Tony, we’ve both lost too much time denying things about Peter. I won’t do it anymore. He loved you like a father. you hung the stars in the sky as far as he was concerned.”

            Tony swallowed as tears began to prickle the corners of his eyes. “I – I can’t imagine why.”

            She patted his arm. “He knew how broken you were, Tony. That didn’t make him adore you any less.”

            The billionaire chuckled wetly. “He was crazy.”

            “He was kind.” She softly disagreed.

            Tony blinked. “Yeah. Yeah, he was.”

            “You love him.” May breathed.

            He nodded. That was the one truth of his life that he could never deny. He had denied it too long when he had Peter. He wouldn’t now. 

            “Here’s the miracle, Tony.” She cupped his chin, her smile so similar to their boy’s. “He loves you too.”

            She caught the tear with her finger and patted his cheek. “He used to say that missing Ben came in waves. One minute, he would be sitting at his desk and doing his homework, right as rain, and suddenly – boom. He would start crying his eyes out because Ben was gone. But one night he looked at me and said, ‘May, I really like the beach.’” She shook her head, relinking her arm through Tony’s as she continued. “And I was so confused until I remembered what he said about the waves. Peter sometimes didn’t know the words to use, but he always said the things that mattered. It was his way of saying he was okay, that he was getting better. The waves weren’t tsunamis anymore but the ones that you willingly jump into to have fun. It was his way of saying that he still had the waves, but they were more to remember and laugh and enjoy the memory of Ben. Of who he was and how much he loved us.”

            May was stronger than he was. Besides a certain red-haired assassin, she was the strongest woman he knew.

            “Sorry, we’re late.” Ned and MJ appeared around the corner of chairs. MJ immediately took her spot next to May, Ned beside her. “Traffic.”

            “It hasn’t started yet, so no harm done.” Tony grinned at the kids. They were both freshmen in college now. Peter would have been so damn proud of them. “You alright, Ned? How was the exam?”

            The eighteen-year-old smiled. “Easier than I thought it would be.”

            Someone tapped a microphone. “Um, excuse me,” they all looked up to see the mayor. “Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for coming. The way that this is going to work is that we have several people already lined up to speak and then after they finish, the floor will be open to anyone. Please just be orderly and considerate of others as you come up to speak.”

            Tony settled back into his seat, bumping Steve’s shoulder as he did. “Did you bring a sappy speech, Spangles?”

            Cap’s lips twitched. “I was going to wait and see if you cried to make any changes. Gotta outdo you, right?”

            The first person on stage was a young man. He stepped up to the microphone and cleared his throat. “Spiderman saved my life twice. I was fifteen when I came out as gay. I was cornered one evening by some of the guys at my school and beaten up really badly. If Spidey hadn’t been there, the doctors said I wouldn’t have made it. I had a punctured lung and many other injuries that would have ended up killing me if he hadn’t gotten me to the hospital in time. Two months later, I stood on top of my apartment complex with a suicide note in my hand and ready to jump. Spiderman stopped me.”

            _I’d rather stay on the ground for a while. Friendly neighborhood Spiderman_.

            “He stayed on that roof with me for seven hours, never complaining about how many times I cried or how much sleep he was losing.” The man wiped at his eyes, paper in his hand shaking as his fingers trembled with emotion. “He talked to me about the simplest things like math homework, Newton’s laws of motion, and the sandwich he’d eaten for lunch that day to the biggest things like his fears, the darkness that teenagers so often fall into because of society, and how many times he had stood on a roof like me and thought the same things.”

            Already, there were people in the crowd having to dot their faces with tissues.

            Tony was screwed.

            “Because of Spiderman, I was able to tell my parents about the bullying. My school was contacted, and the boys were expelled. I finished high-school with flying colors and because of him, I went into college confident that even though I had been beaten down in the past, I wouldn’t let my future be dictated by my pain. He taught me that.”

_Someone’s gotta look out for the little guy._

            “I am now twenty-four years old.” The man continued with a wet smile. “I married my husband two years ago and we just adopted a little girl. Spiderman saved my life and helped me believe that being different didn’t make me ugly. Being different made me beautiful. Thank you, Spidey. I’ll never forget you.”

            And so it went. Hundreds of people stood and talked. People with stories similar to the first man’s or crazily different. Some were funny little tales of Spiderman saving their cat from a tree or helping them restart their car. Others were of Spiderman risking his life by holding up burning buildings and throwing himself in front of bullets. There was a girl who’d been sexually abused by a family friend since she was four and Spidey found out and saved her. There was a little boy who talked about the hero who had stopped by his mother’s hospital bed every Friday evening for a whole year until she died. There was a man who was indebted to Spiderman, who had cleared him of murder charges by figuring out the entire case by himself and presenting it to the police.

            Person after person, story after story, and Tony was left in awe of how fucking incredible his kid had been. How many people he had saved and helped and loved in his own little ways. How he never thought someone was unimportant or their situation was too little. He was shocked by how many people Peter just talked to, listened to, to remind them that there was a reason for living.

            Steve made his way up. There were murmurs across the crowd as Captain America stepped up to speak, carefully unfolding a paper and clearing his throat.

            “Spiderman was a hero.” Steve started. “I first met him in less than ideal circumstances, but even from the beginning, I saw his charisma, his liveliness, and most importantly, his kindness. Spiderman went out of his way to help people. He never had to do that. He never had to put on that suit and save the world. He never had to pick up that gauntlet and sacrifice his life to save everyone else’s. But he did. He did do those things because he was kind. I only got to know Spiderman for a short while, but hearing stories from other Avengers and now, from all of you, I am truly humbled to have known him for any time at all. There is a little less of heaven’s light without him, but I know that his light lives on in everyone who’s spoken tonight. His memory continues to thrive because of you – the people he saved. Whether it was from a crashing helicopter or your own demons, Spidey was there to save you. He was the greatest kid I’ve ever known. Kid?”

            Steve looked up to the starry sky. “Thank you, Queens. We won’t forget you.”

            May broke then. She had been so resilient the whole evening, but three hours of remembering her fantastic kid finally got to her with Cap’s final words. MJ wrapped her arms around the woman, her own face wet his tears. Tony glanced around at the surrounding heroes. Not one of them was spotless. Even Doctor Strange was fighting his hardest against the tears in his eyes, and when he met Tony’s gaze, he saw understanding there. Doc had been there both times that Peter had died, even if he didn’t really see the one on Titan. He knew the pain of watching a child die, especially one as amazing as Peter.

            Twelve o’ clock approached and the time was coming to a close. Tony slipped in at the last second.

            Tony Stark was not nervous in front of crowds. In front of Peter’s memory? Definitely.

            “So, I wasn’t going to say anything, but then Cap said his bit and I am obligated to outdo him, so.” The audience laughed, most of them wiping tears off of already wet cheeks. “I’m kidding. Ever since finding out about tonight, I’ve been struggling on what to say. All of you have Spidey-stories, each dear to you and your loved ones. He’s helped so many people, hasn’t he?”

            The audience roared with applause and cheers, broken by sobs of agreement. “As someone who knew the man behind the mask, let me tell you that he was no different without it. He was just as dorky and weird and brave. He made just as many bad puns.” Tony took a deep breath, glancing down at the paper that he still hadn’t unfolded. Slowly, he opened it and stared at the words written there.

            “ _Don’t remember me by my death, Mr. Stark_.”

            “Spiderman was a kid.” Tony began. “He was my kid. Not biologically or anything, but I took him under my wing, and if you ever talked to him for more than five minutes, you know that he can worm under any walls you’ve built up. He _catapulted_ over mine, the little shit, and suddenly he was one of the most important things in my life. I was shocked by how _good_ he could be.”

            God, he was so **_good_**.

            “He had a heart of gold, as you well know, but he was also so strong. He had so many traumas of his own and yet he never let those things turn him into a spiteful person. He continued to be kind and love other people. He understood loss and so he made an extra effort to make sure that no one felt that awful heartbreak that came with the death of those you love. He looked at this shit-fest we call earth and saw so much light and hope and potential. He went to prisons and talked to villains for Pete’s sake-,”

            He choked for a moment before steeling himself and pushing on. “If anyone had the guts to change the world, it would have been him. He never gave up on people, he always helped, and he truly believed in goodness. He was better than I’ve ever been. He was our future – the Avengers’ future, and instead, he became the past. He became the stepping stone that we as heroes and people let spurn us forward to more – in his memory. He sacrificed everything so that we could come back and still be heroes. Still be people with families and friends and lives. He never once thought of himself.”

            Tony was shaking. Part of him thought about the news stations covering this. The other part of him said that Peter was worth it.

            “I guess by now I should know enough about loss to realize that you never really stop missing someone; you just learn to live around the huge gaping hole of their absence. Spiderman is someone that I have to keep learning how to live without.” The billionaire met May’s eyes across the multitudes. “He was the greatest thing that this world has ever given me.”

            “ _Tony, it’s going to be okay_.”

            “Kid?” he glanced upward like Steve had, to the starry heavens above. “We’re okay, Kid. We’ll be okay. Thank you for everything.”

_Miss you, Peter._

            He wished he could talk about the skittles he’d thrown, the times that Peter had fallen off of his lab stood and collapsed into a fit of laughter. The times that he had made Tony smile so wide it hurt his face or the little bit of gold that his eyes held just when the sun went down.

            As he walked off the stage, he smiled to himself. Peter didn’t want that. He didn’t want fame or glory.

            He just wanted to help the little guy.

            May ran up to him and hugged him so tightly he couldn’t breathe for a moment. “Thank you.”

            Tony shook his head, wrapping his arms around her. “No, May, thank _you_. He was so good because of you.”

            The clock chimed twelve and everyone began to disband. The Avengers and Co. left through a back door so as not to be trampled by paparazzi waiting outside the pavilion. May gave him one last hug before getting into her car and driving away. Steve bumped his shoulder before he climbed into the passenger's side of his own car. “Just had to make me cry, didn’t you?”

            Tony looked up and sure enough, there were tear-tracks on the Captain’s face. “Well, kid’s worth a few tears.”

            Steve smiled gently. “He is.”

            “Night, Steve.”

            “Goodnight Tony.”

            As Happy drove him back to the tower, Tony realized something.

            You couldn’t usually see stars in New York.

            Maybe God had cleared the night sky for one night so that one of his angels could hear Tony one last time.


End file.
